Research

Report

Australian Retail Commentary August 2013

Consumer sentiment remains in positive territory above the 100 neutral mark, but retail turnover growth continues slow and is now declining in most categories. Similarly, vacancy levels increased across most retail formats over H1/2013, with the CBD vacancy rate increasing the most to 6.7% from 5.4% in H2/2012. On-going difficulty in the leasing market has placed further downward pressure on the average specialty rents for some markets. Nevertheless, landlords continue to build up their development pipelines and are pushing ahead with refurbishment and expansion plans. Retail investment activity continues to be strong with volumes reaching record levels. In Q2/2013, 28 retail sales totalling AUD 2.4 billion transacted, 72% more than the AUD 1.4 billion recorded in Q1/2013. The yield range continued to widen across some retail sub sectors reflecting investor discrimination towards assets with risk attached.​